CA Armenian Student, Class Valedictorian, Being Deported

Why is it that we allow people from overseas to stay who become criminals stay in our country, but the people who work hard and are highly educated, they get deported. I am not saying that I am against people from overseas, I’m not, but they shouldn’t deport an Armenian student named Arthur Mkoyan from California who has a 4.0 GPA and has been accepted to the University of California at Davis.

His father, Ruben Mkoian, ran a general store and worked as a police officer in the then-Soviet Republic of Armenia, where he was threatened by former Soviet government workers as the Soviet Union was breaking up, Arthur’s mother has said.

Mkoian, who spells his name differently than does his son, applied for asylum but was rejected. He lost an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and is being held at a detention center in Arizona.

He is pleading for a student visa so him and his family can stay in the country longer. He hasn’t been back to Armenia since he was two, but they are sending him back after doing very well for himself in America.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has introduced such so-called private bills in the past, is gathering Arthur’s information to introduce a bill on his behalf, her Washington office said.
Long shot

If introduced, the bill would halt the deportation. If it passes, he would receive a green card. But private bills rarely pass, Feinstein’s office said.

On Thursday, Arthur visited the office of U.S. Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif. The congressman sent a letter to Feinstein supporting her legislation on behalf of Arthur, Radanovich spokesman Spencer Pederson said Friday.

The letter notes that such a bill was unlikely to pass in the House, but that previous legislation of this nature has been successful in the Senate.

On Monday, Radanovich plans to meet with the Armenian ambassador to the United States to ask that, if deportation can’t be prevented, Arthur be allowed to apply for a student visa to return to the United States, Pederson said.